Elizabeth Warren apologizes for calling herself Native American

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Tuesday that she was sorry that she identified herself as a Native American for almost two decades, reflecting her ongoing struggle to quiet a controversy that continues to haunt her as she prepares to formally announce a presidential bid.

Her comments more fully explain the regret she expressed last week to the chief of the Cherokee Nation, the first time she’s said she was sorry for claiming American Indian heritage.

The private apology was earlier reported as focusing more narrowly on a DNA test she took to demonstrate her purported heritage, a move that prompted a ferocious backlash even from many allies. Warren will be vying to lead a party that has become far more mindful of nonwhite voters and their objections to misuse of their culture.

“I can’t go back,” Warren said in an interview with The Washington Post. “But I am sorry for furthering confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship and harm that resulted.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/elizabeth-warren-apologizes-for-calling-herself-native-american/2019/02/05/1627df76-2962-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html

---

That Warren feels the need to keep returning to this issue worries me.

[Doodley]

1. Why did she apologize?

[brooklynite]

2. Presumably because she thinks it's going to come back as a campaign issue

Link to tweet

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

54. It's a bullshit campaign issue. Elizabeth has apologized for an honest misunderstanding...

Time to move the fuck on!!

[brooklynite]

55. Perhaps she's in a better position to decide if its a serious issue or not...

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

57. Sure, I'll let Elizabeth decide and then it's case closed once she does... that's fine.

[Calista241]

4. A document surfaced where she claimed "American Indian" as her

Race when she applied for the state bar in Texas back in 1986. A picture of the document is in the Washington Post article linked by the OP.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

56. That only helps Elizabeth's case, since the race of an applicant to a state bar is IRRELEVANT...

It shows her state of mind that she had an honest belief about her Native Ametican heritage, as told by family members who should know, and, thus, was not trying to deceive. It's not like a DNA test was really available to her back then... geez!!

[Honeycombe8]

8. Because she's not Native American.

She did it to get some sort of advantage (affirmative action?) or loan, when applying for college, I think? I can't swear to that...that's what I remember. Then the DNA test showed something, but not that she was Native American.

That's my understanding of it. In short, she's not Native American and had said she was.

[virgogal]

15. I think her benefit was getting hired by Harvard.

I could be wrong,though.

[Honeycombe8]

16. I see. It was a job app? Yeah, it could've been that. nt

[torius]

53. No she already had the job at Harvard

She says she mentioned her NA background casually and Harvard listed ber. There is no evidence that she benefited from stating she was NA at any job. (I have not yet read details on the new thing with the card). However, it’s possible other POCs may have lost an opportunity because of her being listed.

[Honeycombe8]

77. Not exactly.

She did put herself on the "minority teacher" list at Penn Law School. Claimed she was N.A. And the evidence is contradictory how else she claimed to be N.A.

There is no clear evidence she benefited from it, I read.

This issue will continue to dog her, unless she clears things up. As you can see from the responses, there are different accounts of what she did and did not do, whether others thought she was N.A. because of her representations, etc.

Millions of Americans think they have some N.A. ancestry. Some members of my family think we do. Like Warren, my mother said she thought my father's family had N.A. blood because "look at those high cheek bones." LOL. But as far as I know, we have no N.A. blood of any significance in our ancestry,and no known particular N.A. person in our ancestry.

[torius]

125. Yes I only said she didn't benefit, according to articles.

She did claim to be NA at Penn (I had forgotten which school it was).

The rule on those forms is "it's what you consider yourself," which I guess she took wide license with, making it a political and emotional issue rather than going with how others would do it but it doesn't appear she did it for gain.

I am half Asian and frequently deal with people telling me I'm not really this or that, or that I am only this or that, or I don't look the way I'm supposed to, or otherwise erasing my identity, and I get this from both sides. So I feel some sympathy for her being attacked for stating what she feels she is, assuming she was sincere. Even though it was wrongheaded for her to write it down, and even more wrong to do the DNA test and to present it as she did, it seems her family lore was important to her.

[treestar]

94. Those who hired her have stated that she would have been hired

no matter what her ancestry was. She had the qualifications and the background they wanted.

[Blues Heron]

61. It showed she did indeed have native ancestry.

She's descended from native american people. DNA doesn't lie.

[Honeycombe8]

74. No, it didn't. That's why she apologized.

You have to be a certain percentage of something to be considered that something.

She apologized because she needs to stop beating that dead horse and get beyond what she did. Maybe she really believed she was N.A. But no one marks on apps that he or she is a minority, unless they really know for sure. Which she didn't. And she isn't.

[Blues Heron]

76. No there's no rule like that

Technically she has Native ancestry. You can argue about amounts, significance, politics identity etc till the cows come home, but the facts are the facts. She has native DNA.

[treestar]

97. Yes, it showed what she claimed.

[lunasun]

30. For one her Harvard law time claim as a minority women of Native American heritage

Plus highlighting dna tests as a form of tribal dispute


Rebecca Nagle, a writer, activist and citizen of Cherokee Nation, told CNN in an interview last week that, even though she mostly agreed with Warren's politics, she would never consider supporting her without a robust admission.
"What Warren needs to do, at this point, is apologize to the tribes that she has harmed and to Native people broadly -- and then she needs to say without qualification, unequivocally that she is not Cherokee and that she is not Native. And stop parsing Native identity in ways that undermine Native rights," Nagle said
Warren's explanation, her stories of a familial history and the DNA test, she added, only made things worse.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/elizabeth-warren-apology-to-cherokee-nation/index.html

[awesomerwb1]

3. Stick a fork

[BlueIdaho]

13. Sadly, Yes...

There is zero room for error when you’re going for the Presidency. This sort of unforced error is all it takes. You can ask Howard Dean just how unforgiving these seemingly small mistakes really are.

As much as I like Senator Warren, she should concentrate her efforts on becoming a towering giant in the Senate. THAT is well within her reach.

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. Unless you are a rePug...then you can do or say anything

and still get the office handed to ya.

[BlueIdaho]

24. Also sadly true...

But personally, I’d rather support a party that respects human dignity and expects common decency....

The cesspool of kankerous pustules can go fuck themselves.

[treestar]

89. I like the comments that she was a Repub at the time

So it's OK!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

58. If Elizabeth is good enough for the Senate, she's good enough for the White House.

[ripcord]

44. The field is too large for 2020

It will probably come up in the primaries which with so many candidate will be, in my opinion, very vicious.

[delisen]

102. Unfortunately we will find that other candidates have issues. nt

[ripcord]

109. I have no doubt you are right

But that is why we have primaries to winnow through the field.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

60. How quickly we disown our own.

[awesomerwb1]

84. Who is "disowning" her?

You seem to like following me around for some reason. Good for you. I'm sure you're gonna report this post as well.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

114. LOL, no idea who you are... but, you're certainly free to your opinion, even if it's wrong.

[awesomerwb1]

116. You don't know who I am but yet you have sent me

an unrequested instant message before.

And you seem to like replying to my posts as well, hence my comment. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

118. LOL, I have over 14,000 posts... so, obviously, I like responding to LOTS of people...

glad you feel special though.

[awesomerwb1]

119. Yeah, and I'm sure you

send everybody unsolicited instant messages too.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

121. I've sent countless IM's to people here I don't know & don't remember...

over the 15 years I've been on DU. But, if that makes you feel special, I'm happy for you.

[awesomerwb1]

123. Not sure why you would assume

sending people unsolicited IMs would make them feel special.

But whatever floats your boat. I think I've wasted enough time replying to you here. Please don't ever send me an IM again. Any future reply to any of my posts from you will be ignored.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

124. Very kind of you to say... thanx.

[True Dough]

78. In all likelihood

I think you're right. She's done.

Warren brings a lot of qualities to the table but we live in an age where the "aha, gotcha" moments haunt people in the 24-hour media cycle.

Everyone but Trump, that is. He's immune because his base doesn't give a shit about how despicable he is.

[awesomerwb1]

85. It's unfortunate.

Because I really like her. She can still do a lot of good in the Senate and I'm sure she will.

[Doodley]

5. The DNA test showed she had some Native American heritage, albeit going back several generations.

[brooklynite]

6. "Some Native American heritage" is not the same as calling yourself "American Indian"

[treestar]

34. The one drop rule

Would mean she would get treated as minority

[oldsoftie]

38. And Pres Obama was related to George W Bush too. And more closely related to Cheney!! (UGH)

At some point you have to draw a line about what you can claim. Hers is 1/924th. And that aint enough. We dont have a one drop rule, otherwise George Bush would've been the first black president!!!

[Doodley]

45. Who thinks they are the heritage police to tell others they can or cannot

claim heritage or decide they do or do not have sufficient DNA?

[oldsoftie]

49. Society. Are you ok with the guy who found out he's 4% African claiming minority business owner?

And 4% is a LOT more than E. Warren is claiming. Because if there's NOT a line drawn somewhere, then this is going to happen a LOT more.
If she were a republican, we all would be going off the rails about this.
It was just a bad mistake on her part.

[Doodley]

98. Are you going to decide where to draw that line?

[oldsoftie]

100. I already did. A token amount isnt enough. So you ARE ok with the white guy being "minority"?

Where do YOU draw the line for getting government set asides for contracts? I should get access to that program because I have a black great great great grandfather? (which is STILL more than this guy at4%)

[Doodley]

103. She was proud in believing

she was Native American, so proud she was willing to take a DNA test and be publicly humiliated if she was wrong and possibly wreck her political ambitions.

I don't care what race people are. I treat them with equal regard. I don't care either what people identify as. Our beliefs and our culture are not only defined by our DNA.

She probably has more knowledge and a greater affinity for native Americans than most Americans and perhaps even most native Americans. I don't believe it was a "mistake" on her part, I think it was what she had been told. The idea that you can go your whole life identifying with a group of people, and suddenly a DNA test means you have to reject that identification is ridiculous.

A man who identified as a woman doesn't suddenly stop that because a test show he has male chromosomes. This isn't only about passing or failing a test, it is deeper than that.

[delisen]

105. Family folklore-soon we will have to sue parents for lies to us

[oldsoftie]

110. But when it comes to government programs and minority goals, it DOES matter.

Let it go down that road and those programs will be meaningless. Anyone can go get a test and show a 8th generation black or hispanic or whatever and claim their preference.
But hey, the genie is already out of the bottle lets see how far down the rabbit hole he goes.

[Blues Heron]

62. It's not up you though is it

She has Native ancestry. Period. Either you do or you don't.

[oldsoftie]

65. And it's laughable. She should kept it to herself & let trump blather on.

[Blues Heron]

67. Maybe to you it's laughable.

She got 'em though, native genes.

[oldsoftie]

69. Just not as she had said she got 'em. And see my post above;

are you ok with this white guy claiming minority business ownership after finding out he's 4% black?

[njhoneybadger]

82. No, they have a common ancestor through his white mother's side

[oldsoftie]

91. So youre saying the ancestor is not a blood relative?

[njhoneybadger]

95. I'm saying he is a blood relative on his maternal side.

It has nothing to do with Barack's father

[oldsoftie]

111. Well then they're still related; mom counts just as dad does.

Both sides of the tree count, not just one half.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

90. The one drop rule applied only to African - a legal construct. "blood quantum" laws applied to

Native Am generally required more native ancestry eg 1/2 or more. Now of course tribes determine for themselves who qualifies to be tribal members.

[treestar]

92. I don't know what it takes to qualify as Native American

for various purposes, but she could identify as such if she wanted (I have been told right here on DU it is up to the person in question).

That is the one problem with various minority based programs - in theory they could require a test of blood which seems counter-intuitive to anything American - the Nazis were the ones that discussed that sort of thing, so it doesn't sit well.

[delisen]

104. Reopening Cherokee Attempted Expulsion of Black Slave Descendants?

Cherokee had held slaves way walked the Trail of Tears. In 2011 there was a serious attempt to expel attempt to expel the "Black Freedman" from the tribe.

Eric Holder as attorney general in the Obama administration and agencies of the government nixed it. Is this an issue that is still alive?

The Cherokee Nation recently decided to limit its membership to people who can prove they have Indian blood. This strips of their citizenship rights about 2,800 African-Americans who are descendants of slaves once owned by wealthy Cherokees. Those rights include access to health care clinics, food distribution for the poor, and assistance for low-income homeowners.

The move prompted protests among these African-Americans, who are known as Freedmen, because for long periods in the past, they enjoyed equal rights in the Cherokee tribe. But in more recent history, their citizenship rights have been repeatedly challenged.

The decision has also put the Cherokees at odds with the federal government.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has already suspended more than $37 million in funding to the Cherokee Nation. The Justice Department said last week that a key election for tribal chief later this month will not be recognized by the Department of the Interior, which has oversight over Indian affairs.

https://www.npr.org/2011/09/19/140594124/u-s-government-opposes-cherokee-nations-decision

[oldsoftie]

112. Wow, I did not know that. Thank you

[Honeycombe8]

10. A tiny, itsy bitsy, minute, speck...maybe. Less than most people, probably.

In other words, she's not Native American.

[Doodley]

46. Do you think you have the right to make that determination?

[Honeycombe8]

71. Do I have a right to determine if it's daytime?

Truth is truth. Facts are facts. The law is the law.

She's not Native American...not even close. Legally. She apologized because Native Americans were offended.

There's this trend lately by people not to accept factual statements. "She's not Native American" is a factual statement. That's not a statement to argue with. I don't determine what my genetic history is, or yours. It is what it is. That is a factual thing.

You know what a DNA test is, right? It doesn't give an opinion. It doesn't say, "Well, geez, I kinda feel like you maybe might be part Native America, part European caucasian...but geez, who am I say...I'm just a DNA test."

[jrthin]

83. Well stated. Your subject line had me spilling my coffee. LOL.

[Doodley]

99. Legally? This isn't a matter of the law. I am reminded of a woman

in South Africa who was black. Her parents were not black. Her grandparents were not black, but a latent gene was activated that gave her skin color. She was subjected to racial discrimination.

Should she have rejected her black heritage and denied she was black, or should she have owned it? Who are we to tell her who she should identify with? Who are we to tell a man he cannot identify as a woman and say his chromosomes show he cannot be a woman? Who are we to keep on judging others and telling them what they should and shouldn't do or think?

[treestar]

88. Everyone has the right to decide for themselves

How much percent do you need before you get to make that determination in the positive?

The examples in the thread - 4% black and you can't say you are black - but how much do you need? And people are allowed to "identify" for example, I once got into a debate with someone on DU about Meghan Markle - she identifies as black and thus my comments that I would not have thought she was black unless someone told me were considered to be ignorant, and it is up to Meghan Markle to decide.

You have the extreme with that white woman who claimed she was black.

Warren had straight black hair when she was young and the 1/24 may have decided her on identifying as Native American. According to some on DU that should be enough.

I get that the ordinary voter wouldn't get that, as opposed to denizens of DU.

She can only be admitted to the bar by passing the test, anyway. It does not have any affect. There's no affirmative action for that exam as far as I know and I would faint if there was in Texas of all places.

[DasMadchen]

107. Rachel Dolezol will be just thrilled with that answer...

n/t

[treestar]

108. thanks, had forgotten her name

[Blues Heron]

63. How do you know what genes she has that are from her native branch?

could be some important ones? Utterly intact despite several generations of remove.

[Honeycombe8]

68. She's not Native American.

I don't know what your post means. Her DNA test proved she wasn't. So...your post doesn't make sense.

[Blues Heron]

70. You have it backwards, the test proved she had Native American ancestry.

Better check again. My post indicated that genes can be handed down intact, it doesn't just "dilute away to zero"

[FBaggins]

39. Not exactly

She didn't just claim "Native American" in general... her story included specific tribal background (Cherokee?).

The problem is "Native American" is a broad generalization. The groups that she had some connection to were Central American (I take it essentially Aztec/Mayan). There's no connection between the two other than the overgeneralization "Native American"

[Eyeball_Kid]

80. I've been researching my own ancestry for years...

... and I can tell you that family lore is often not what the DNA reveals. People make mistakes and distortions all the fucking time. Big fucking deal. It's human to do so, as well as it's human to search for the most complete detail possible. The only "truth" that comes out of this is that Trumpy is a life-long expert on denigrating people he views as a threat. With Warren, he elevated a common misperception as a cardinal sin, and the media amplified the lie.

[denverbill]

7. So what? Trump calls himself a successful businessman and billionaire.

[oldsoftie]

50. Todays winner!!

[treestar]

96. +1

and says he has the best brain and the best words and knows more about the military than the generals and knows more in his gut than experts on everything.

[Vinca]

9. She must stop talking about this. Period. End of story.

She's just begging the Trumphumpers to call her names. If anyone brings it up during the campaign she needs to tell them that unlike Trump she didn't have to produce a birth certificate in court to prove her parents weren't orangutans (Trump vs. Bill Maher).

[Honeycombe8]

11. This issue won't go away. She had to address it directly.

That's why she took the DNA test, which made it worse. But the issue won't go away.

[Vinca]

17. That's why she has to make light of it rather than belabor it.

[virgogal]

18. She can't make light of it if she

used it to benefit herself,that's the problem.

[janx]

41. Exactly. n/t

[Mike Nelson]

12. This is starting to...

… remind me of Hillary's emails. Trump can have real scandals by the hundreds while a couple of relatively minor missteps go on and on... I see a pattern.

[brooklynite]

14. The difference between this and Clinton's emails is...

Democrats have a lot of other choices

[Raine]

19. She's done

she should never have taken that DNA test. I think she could've survived but that did her in, she let herself be goaded into it by Trump.

[Mz Pip]

127. Sadly, I think you're right.

She won’t be able to talk about anything else. This will follow her wherever she goes. It’s really unfortunate that whatever stories she was told in her family have turned out to be some kind of campaign issue.

[marble falls]

21. Appologize? Why? She could have been and denied it. My family has verrrry detailed ...

Last edited Wed Feb 6, 2019, 01:01 AM - Edit history (1)

stories of Native American blood in our line. I was at drafting school in the '80's and one day I'm talking with a Sioux member and I told him my father's family had native blood. He asked me which tribe. I told him Cherokee. He laughed and said, "all you white people have Cherokee blood."

Two years ago my wife and I got a DNA test for Christmas. Not a drop of Native American blood between us.

I understand how Elizabeth Warren feels. She was proud of NA heritage, she wasn't denying it.

[Sapient Donkey]

27. Heh... Why is this such a common thing? Really weird to see so many similar stories about this.

[The Genealogist]

43. One theory I have seen

is that parents used to tell kids they had naive american blood, I guess just for entertainment purposes.

I've been told that as well. I have not a drop, DNA confirms that. My aunt (that is, my father's brother's wife) used to peddle a story she allegedly got from my great aunt, about us having Kickapoo blood. She'd always end the story by pointing out her husband's summertime tan from working outside in the summer as proof.

I think the Kickapoo thing came from the fact that there is a Kickapoo reservation near where my dad's mother grew up.

[RobinA]

75. Let Me Be The First

to say that, although my genetic test results are still outstanding, unless someone jumped the fence and no one found out about it, I have not one drop of Native American blood in me, no Cherokee, no nothing. No family mythology of any, either. I have family tree back to the boat(s) on all sides, and these people did not get around much.

I think the reason this story is so prevalent is that people like the idea that they have some exoticism in their background, particularly those who consider their European heritage "boring." By the way, I endorse neither idea, I'm just saying what I think leads to the overuse of the "I'm part Cherokee" line.

[marble falls]

79. Both my sides and my wifes come from the 1740's and the Scot and Scot Irish immigration ...

through Baltimore with English DNA mixed in.

[RobinA]

128. If You Haven't Already

visit Scotland sometime. It’s a wonderful country.

[marble falls]

130. My biggest worry? The verrrrry detailed stories my family has about Scotland!!!!!

[treestar]

93. In OK or any other midwestern or western state

There could be some likelihood. I'm from the east and we know we have none. Still speculated on my grandmother, since she was rather dark skinned and had black hair.

Warren grew up where it would seem credible.

[Raine]

37. Same thing in my family

but I was skeptical and if asked I always said it was only a rumor and I doubted it. Good thing, because I found out recently there's not a drop of Native American in the family at all.

[janx]

42. A lot of family stories get passed down, and

people get on ancestry websites to cherry pick information that confirms those stories. But when it comes down to the DNA science--relatively new for most people--science wins.

I suspect that Warren had always heard those family stories. It is romantic to think that you have indigenous blood in your veins, and a lot of people are attracted to that. Some people use it to their advantage. I'm afraid this is what Warren did.

[marble falls]

81. I don't think she "used" it. I think she was trying express why she had the depth of feeling ...

she had about some issues and where it came from.

The stories in my family were very detailed as to who, where, and how. It required a detailed rewriting of our family history. It included spending time in a state no one from my family would have been otherwise. My dad said, his third great grandfather had been walking the Cherokee from the Carolinas to Oklahoma and took a Cherokee woman as a wife.

That particular grandfather was Governor of Kentucky and never left Kentucky except when he was in Congress and he went to Washington and after he was arrested year when Lincoln had suspended 'Habeas Corpus' he was imprisoned for a year and when he was released he went to Mexico until the Civil War was over. He was pro-slavery but anti-secessionist. His father came from NC, so he was in the right place for the Trail of Tears at the right time but there was no way either of them walked it, took a bride, was widowed and came back.

My wife has a similar story from her family. We've both gotten very good at following family trees and finding documents.

I do wonder how many of these stories started with an adult teasing a child?

[Shemp Howard]

22. I'm not much of a fan of Sen. Warren...

But I find it odd that the Washington Post would decide to go digging at this point in time, just as the 2020 presidential candidate list is forming up.

This Native American controversy has been swirling around for a decade. And the Post decides to check the Texas bar records now?

[BlueIdaho]

25. I think it's important to always remember

The M$M are not our friends. Never have been, never will be.

[FBaggins]

40. Could be at her request

If this hit a week before the election it would ensure a Trump victory. If she suspects that it's going to come out than it's best to get it out there now... do what damage control you can... and either accept that you're out of the race or get through it and next November it's a non-story.

[NotHardly]

23. Tired thread ... I'm adopted, but my adoptive mother's family claimed a great-great grandmother of

such ancestry, there's an old tintype of her that makes it appear possible, but geeze, do we hold folks accountable for family 'legends' now and have to apologize for what might or might not have been said? Asking for a friend.

[brooklynite]

28. Would you fill out official forms on that basis?

[zentrum]

35. Ouff. This document

…is really devastating, I'm afraid.

[Sapient Donkey]

26. I understand how this could have happened

I grew up hearing about how I apparently had a lot of native american ancestry. I had no reason not to believe it, and I know there wasn't any malice in what amounted to an over exaggeration. Although, I never used it on anything or officially declared myself as such. May have mentioned in passing a few times over the years.

[Blue_playwright]

31. I have too, for four decades I've been told that I have NA ancestry

And my maternal grandmother looked damn near full-blood Native American, but I was told that no one kept track of the information and that it had been all hush-hush because at the turn of the last century it was shameful to be mixed. It was a dark secret that no one talked about.

So I would love to discover my heritage - like you, I have talked about it but I've never profited from it. I think she was right to take the test. I just wish those family members who touted her heritage had known more. I wish I knew more about mine. Someday I'll do the DNA test, myself. I hope I have stronger ties than she did, though. Without any true information, it's really a part of my self-narrative and who I think I am.

[Izzy Blue]

29. OP's link

"The Texas bar registration card is significant, among other reasons, because it removes any doubt that Warren directly claimed the identity. In other instances, Warren has declined to say whether she or an assistant filled out forms.

The card shows her name, her gender and the address for the University of Texas law school in Austin, where she was working at the time.

On the line for “race,” Warren neatly printed, “American Indian.” She left blank lines for “National Origin” and “Physical handicap” and signed the document.

“She is sorry that she was not more mindful of this earlier in her career,” said Kristen Orthman, a Warren campaign spokeswoman.

Warren filled out the card after being admitted to the Texas bar. Warren was doing legal work on the side, according to her campaign, but nothing that required bar admission in the state.

The date coincided with her first listing as a “minority” by the Association of American Law Schools. Warren reported herself as minority in the directory every year starting in 1986 – when AALS first included a list of minority law professors – to 1995, when her name dropped off the list.

Warren also had her ethnicity changed from white to Native American in December 1989 while working at the University of Pennsylvania. The change came two years after she was hired there.

Several months after Warren started working at Harvard law school in 1995, she approved listing her ethnicity as Native American. Harvard listed Warren as Native American in its federal affirmative action forms from 1995 to 2004, records show.

There’s no indication that Warren had anything to gain by reporting herself as Native American on the Texas bar card. Above the lines for race, national origin and handicap status, the card says, “The following information is for statistical purposes only and will not be disclosed to any person or organization without the express written consent of the attorney.”

[Igel]

36. I was wondering how she benefited from it in any tangible way.

Perhaps in ways intangible, self-identity, etc.

On the other hand, there are a lot of places that track minority and women employees and contractors and will pay to keep their statistics up. "We are equal opportunity, and among our lawyers is an African-American man and a Native-American woman" would be a bonus, and all things being equal they'd go the affirmative-action route. Even if things weren't equal, there's be a bit of a bias for some companies. That's pure speculation, of course.

The station I listen to, however, has underwriting in which companies proudly talk about the sex and race of their owners and employees because they think it's good advertising, so it's not completely unreasonable speculation.

I know Austin has a really blue reputation now, but I don't know about the mid-late '80s. I'd have to assume it was at least purple.

[exboyfil]

73. How about she hoped it would help her?

If that is the case, then it is irrelevant whether it actually did or not.

[a kennedy]

32. Love her, but this will be her downfall. JMHO

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

33. This is a teachable moment MS Warren! Hope she will take it a step further and use the media

attention to educate/inform us non-Indians exactly WHY cultural and spiritual appropriation is a big deal to native Americans. Take it a step further and really articulate WHY it was a mistake. I can tell by some of the posts on this site that some don't really understand why white people faking Indian heritage is a big deal for most Indian people.

Shes not the only academic to have faked native Am credentials for personal gain - there are apparently enough fake Indian artists and fake new age Indian shamans and such that it really is a thing.

As it was explained to me once by a native Am guy who had turned to Indian spiritual practices to recover from alcoholism - "you take away our land and now you want our culture and our spirituality?" The cultural genocide experienced by tribal people is still within living memory - children taken against parents will and sent to boarding schools to have the "Indian" beaten out of them (metaphorically... and sometimes literally) , Indian spiritual practices were illegal until 1975. Before that people were arrested and artifiacts taken. Cant blame them for being a bit touchy about white folks thinking they can just take it for themselves.

[KBlagburn]

48. Nothing Faked and Nothing Gained

[KBlagburn]

47. In the 70's and 80's ...

There were no "Ancestry's" to trace your genealogy or do DNA test. All you had was the word of your family, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. Though it was not uncommon for families to claim Native heritage (mine included), it was all you had to go by. Maybe it was a mistake for her to believe her family, I certainly did not believe mine. Once I did my family tree and did the DNA I did confirm there was no Native heritage, although it did show 2% African and 5 presidents and Gen Robert E Lee in my family tree. I certainly do not blame her for wanting to believe what she was told by her family as it was so common. Claiming native heritage on a state bar registry certainly got her no privileges. And we already know she received no privileges at Harvard. No harm, no foul. This does not rise to the level of Ralph Northam's black face in VA. It was a simple mistake based on bad information she was given. End of story.

[Blues Heron]

64. Her test confirmed her native heritage. Yours was negative.

She has native heritage. The DNA test confirmed the family lore.

[bearsfootball516]

72. It does, between 1/64th and 1/1,024th's.

Not enough for anyone to take it seriously and so little that it risks becoming a running gag in the primaries/general.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

122. Precisely!!

[BlueTsunami2018]

51. Well, she's done.

I never thought she had much of a chance to begin with, which is a shame because she’s a brilliant person with good ideas, but this ridiculous thing has utterly destroyed her.

[TexasBushwhacker]

117. Yup. Stick a fork in her.

She'd make a hell of a Treasury Secretary though or head of the SEC.

[doompatrol39]

52. Wow, she continues to handle this poorly

Nobody else is thinking about this or bringing it up except Trump, and this constant call back to it on her part makes it seem like she's letting it get to her and rattle her. It makes her seem desperate.

I continue to be a big fan of hers and I think she deserves credit for being the first out of the gate on our side to start really talking about things that needed to be talked about, at a time when other Dems were more concerned with playing it safe. But this whole thing is making me seriously question her judgment or her advisor's judgment.

[LexVegas]

59. She is done. nt

[bearsfootball516]

66. Love her, but taking the DNA test sunk her ship.

She stooped down to his level in an attempt to beat him and it didn't work, and now this is something that will never go away if she runs. It'll be "her emails" all over again. She's done.

[imavoter]

86. The problem is out sexist culture.

I think she's trying to be respectful and make things right.

But when a woman makes a mistake (or a perceived mistake) in a national forum, she is shamed forever.

I mean come on....this really should be a non issue.

But Dumpster can act like the worst frat boy, rich kid, bully, racist, frat boy and be president.

It's fucking bullshit.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

115. Yup, more misogynistic bullshit... fuck dat!!

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

87. NOT GOOD to fake minority status. I'm mystified why so many here seem to think

it's OK. Whether or not financial gain can be proven is irrelevant - there are other ways a person can benefit from such a designation, at least within some circles. And the financial gain could, and sometimes does, happen in a more roundabout way - eg an author who claims to be an authority on native American culture base d partly on his supposed Indian heritage - more likely to be published. This latter has happened. As have artists who do Indian art, fake shamans etc. - all benefit materially. Or there is a coolness factor to being Indian that some people enjoy - this latter is so common that there is a term for them, the "Wannabe" tribe.

Its not uncommon for there to be an African ancestor in the distant past esp in white southern families who've been around for a while. One episode of Finding Your Roots revealed that the descendents of a white plantation owner were actually cousins to descendents of a black slave who had been owned on that same plantation. Should those white people, growing up as white, claim African American status based on that? No, we would think that was ridiculous, right? Like that one white woman who was posing as black and had even been hired as a head of a African American organization - she said she identified as black just cos she "felt" like she was! She was roundly ridiculed, and rightly so.

Why should native American heritage and culture not be accorded the same respect?

IMHO, the problem isn't that Ms Warren is proud, and rightfully so, to have a distant Indian ancestor and talks about it, but that she claimed status in error and has not really done a good job in explaining and owning up to it.

I think that Beto O's forthright handling of his past mistakes provides a good example for how Dems can handle this sort of thing. Turn it into something you've learned and gotten stronger from. Instead of deny, deny, deny, followed by lame half arse apology.

[treestar]

106. now you've come full circle

if it is actually beneficial to have minority status, claims on continued oppression will lose some resonance, no? It undermines white privilege to say I have an advantage with minority status. Let's not go so far that we give the Repubs proof of what they claim about these issues. I really don't think EW would be doing this for any reason other than she thought she had it and wanted to identify with it.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

120. NOT FOLLOWing your logic - white people exploiting/benefiting from faking minority status doesnt

negate the reality of white privilege. In fact what better example of it!

[Jarqui]

101. I like her but this is going to really hurt her in a crowded field nt

[Blarneyman]

113. Bad Move!

New Rule: Stop Apologizing | Real Time with Bill Maher

As a football fan, I do object to Dan Snyder's unwillingness to enter the 20th century, but Maher's overall point remains spot-on.

[catrose]

126. In Oklahoma I heard many people tell of their NA ancestry with pride

whether they had tribal membership or not, no matter how white they looked. Warren is from Oklahoma, and she remembers her NA grandmother & heard about the prejudice she faced. Warren has been clear that she understands the difference between being a member of a nation and having some NA genes. I would never have thought she meant anything other than to honor her ancestors, particularly those she remembers. But then there's Republicans...

[Hassler]

129. I really like Warren, but I don't like the ongoing digging she's doing to bury her campaign.